Hiccups
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: Being a Chain, there are some things in this world Alice has never experienced before...


**Haven't written for Pandora Hearts in a while. I missed it! X3 Here's some more OzxAlice cuteness for you all! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts :'(

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Hiccups

Warm Spring sunlight was shining brightly down upon the small town, causing the black shadows to appear to be even darker against the dusty ground.

Oz Vessalius sauntered down the sidewalk of the town with a big smile on his face, and his step was light and bouncy as he went down the sidewalk. Beside him, an annoyed Alice followed, glaring at him from the corner of her deep violet eye. She had kept silent for this long and finally could no longer hold her tongue.

"Argh! I don't get it, Oz! Why are you so happy today?" She cried as though it had been nagging at her all day. Oz stopped walking and turned back to her with confused, green eyes.

"Eh? You mean you're not happy Alice?" He tilted his head to one side. "Why not? We've been staying at Gil's place for the past few days and it's been raining every single one of them. So I thought you'd be happier today since it finally decided to get nice out. Weren't you bored being locked up inside that house these past few days?" He asked.

Alice opened her mouth to reply, but the words wilted in her throat as she realized he was right.

"Yeah, yeah." She admitted. "I guess it is kinda nice to get out of that place with the touchy Seaweed Head." She mumbled, starting to feel a bit relieved to finally be out in the open air again. "There haven't been any problems with the Chains lately either." She recalled.

"See?" Oz nudged her with his elbow and her good mood vanished as she scowled at him.

"Don't touch me, man servant." She snapped. Oz laughed to himself and took a small step away.

"But it's nice isn't it?" he beamed. Alice blinked up at him and avoided eye contact, blushing slightly as she nodded, suddenly finding great interest in the ground. Oz chuckled to himself. "Why don't we go get something to eat?" He suggested, knowing just how to cheer her up. He found it amusing how her face lit up immediately.

"Really? Then let's go! What are you waiting for, you stupid man servant?" She dashed on ahead to the nearest eatery and Oz followed with a smile.

Alice ordered several things, mainly chicken, and the two found an outside table to settle down at. They ate together happily, until there was nothing left.

Alice sat back in her chair and crossed her legs, putting her hands behind her head as though she were tanning at the beach, and let out a satiated sigh.

"Ah that was good!" Oz yawned, leaning back as well and closing his eyes. "I'd love to just fall asleep right now…"

"You know, for once, I agree with you." She nodded from across the small table, her eyes already closed.

But she did not get to relax long before she felt a strange bubbly feeling in her stomach. Alice's eyelashes fluttered open and she quietly sat up straight, crossing her arms over her stomach. "What is this…?" she murmured to herself.

But Oz overheard her and blinked his eyes open. "Alice? What's wrong?" he asked, concern edged into his tone as he stood up and walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Alice?" he repeated, for it seemed she had not heard him the first time.

"Oz…" she suddenly turned her piercing violet gaze upward to him and he was taken aback by the puzzlement and slight fear he saw in her gaze. "What…is this?" she asked, feeling another disturbance in her stomach, as though there were butterflies trapped behind her ribcage. Seeing the way she was holding her stomach, Oz feared that she was about to be sick and began to panic.

"Ah…u…um okay. Here, get up." He tugged on her arm and stood her up. "We should find a-" He cut off when Alice gasped loudly and he turned quickly to look at her. "Alice-?" He expected her to be keeling over in pain but instead she was standing upright with her eyes wide as a startled cat's.

Oz stayed put for a moment, watching her with confusion until a small sound escaped from her throat. It was like that of a high-pitched squeak of an small, frightened animal being pursued by a predator. "Alice?" Oz asked again, his grip on her arm loosening as he realized just what was wrong with her. Then he let go of her completely and held back a chuckle and a grin as she made the noise again.

"O-Oz…!" she gripped his sleeve and clasped her fingers into fists. "W-What is –hic- this?" her whole body jumped a bit. Then Oz could no longer hold back his laughter at her seriousness of the matter and he burst out into chuckles.

Alice released his sleeve and stared at him in shock and horror, her jaw agape as he laughed enough to have tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "O-Oy! –hic- Why you good-for-nothing man servant! He–hic-lp me!" She wailed, her eyes teary.

Oz continued to laugh a moment longer until he finally stopped himself. He realized that they were beginning to cause a scene with the other civilians walking by so, with some effort, he made Alice sit back down and took his seat as well. He moved closer to her around the table until they were facing each other, their knees touching slightly.

"Now can –hic- you explain to me what's going on? –hic-" she jumped slightly every time and Oz had to hold back his laughter again.

"Calm down." His voice softened a bit and he placed his hands on top of hers, seeing how freaked out about all this she was. "They're called hiccups-" He began.

"_T-They_?" Alice yelped. "S-So what –hic- is that supposed to mean? Are they –hic- alive or something?" she was trembling slightly and now Oz felt guilty for laughing at her earlier. She was not from this world and obviously had never experienced something like this before. He tried to understand how she felt right now with these strange air bubbles coming up from her stomach.

"No." He answered. "They're…" he fumbled for words to describe them in a way she would comprehend. "They're like air bubbles that come up from your stomach. It happens to everyone."

"Really? But –hic- they just keep coming! Do they ever go away? How can I get rid of –hic- them?" she fretted. Oz could not remember the last time he had seen her so flustered with her strong front gone and her more vulnerable side showing.

"There are a lot of different ways." He told her. "Like holding your breath or drinking lots of water. And then there's some weird ones like eating lots of sugar or peanut butter but I'm not sure if those actually work…" He looked up from his pondering to find Alice looking at him expectantly, her eyes distressed and her shoulders tensed as she waited for the next hiccup to assault her. Her fists were trembling slightly under his palms and Oz softened again. "Alice, calm down. You'll be fine. And I'm sorry for laughing at you before. It must be pretty scary for you, I guess."

"…You should –hic- be sorry." She pouted, looking away from him. "Now get _rid_ of these things, would you?" she pleaded. Oz smiled gently.

"Alright let's try it. Hold your breath for as long as you can." He ordered.

But she just stared at him.

"And how –hic- exactly is this supposed to –hic- help me? –hic- DAMN THESE THINGS ARE ANNOYING!" She shouted loudly. Oz laughed again.

"Okay. Take a deep breath and give it a try. Hold your breath for as long as you can." He urged her. Alice stared at him somewhat suspiciously, but her glare faded away as another hiccup overtook her and she decided to obey without argument.

She took a deep breath and held it in, and Oz sat back, letting his hands slide away from hers. She sat in silence for a few seconds until another hiccup came up, where she let out her breath to let it pass.

"Ah…Alice. You weren't supposed to let it out just yet. Even if the hiccups continue, just keep holding your breath." He directed her.

"Well why didn't you tell me that –hic- earlier? Stupid man servant…" she mumbled.

"Try again." Oz encouraged. Alice sighed but did as she was told nonetheless. She took another deep breath and held it this time, even when several hiccups came up and tried to escape. Oz watched her carefully to make sure she was not trying to hold her breath longer than was necessary.

After about a moment, she was starting to look uncomfortable and finally she let out her breath. "Now don't breathe through your mouth." Oz told her. "It won't help in getting rid of them." He informed her. Alice ceased her gasping and forced herself to breathe through her nose. But even after all that, she jumped again slightly as another hiccup managed to escape past her lips. Alice let out a huge sigh and breathed heavily.

"Dammit." She cursed under her breath. "Are you sure this stuff actually works?" she asked Oz accusingly.

"I'm not doing this just to see you suffer, Alice." He told her gently. "Here let's try another method. I'll be right back." Alice sat with her fists on her knees, trying to keep her mouth closed and her hiccups to a minimum. Oz returned from the restaurant with large a glass of water. Alice blinked at him in confusion and titled her head to one side.

"Now –hic- what?" she was starting to get used to the hiccups interrupting her.

"Now…" Oz sat down before her again. "I want you to hold your nose and plug your ears and I'll hold the water for you. You have to drink as much as you can before you run out of breath."

"Holding my –hic- breath again, huh? I'm starting to think you're out to get me, Oz." she said skeptically.

"Come on now, let's give it a try." He urged. "This always worked for me no matter what."

"Then why didn't –hic- we try this one _first_ you idiot?" She barked.

"Ah…sorry." He said in embarrassment. "Now do as I said." He watched as she lifted her hands plugging her ears with her pointer fingers and holding her nose with her pinkies together. She nodded at Oz and he lifted the glass to her lips. She took small sips as fast as she could and nearly drained the entire glass before she coughed and had to stop, removing her hands so she could breathe again. "Okay, again breathe through your nose!" Oz ordered quickly.

Alice coughed again and covered her mouth with one hand, trying to do as she was told, but her coughs made it impossible to keep her mouth closed. Oz stood and went to her side, patting her back gently with his hand and moving his palm in soothing circles. When Alice had finally gotten her composure back, she sat up straight, only to be assaulted with another squeak. Oz sighed and patted her back one last time.

"Well," Alice coughed again. "_That _didn't work! Forget this! –hic- I'm not going to do this anymore. It's hardly worth –hic- nearly suffocating." She scoffed.

"Come on, then." Oz sighed, defeated. "Let's go home. Are you okay?" he asked as she gave another small cough.

"Yeah, yeah." She responded dismissively. "Let's go –hic- back."

"Right." Oz let a small smile form on his lips and he offered the girl his hand. Alice jumped with another hiccup and accepted his hand as though it was nothing, but the boy could tell she was flattered.

He led the way back to Gil's place and Alice followed in silence. When they finally arrived, Oz called out a greeting as they entered the kitchen where Gil was smoking.

"Ah." Gil put out his smoke. "Did you have a good time, Oz?" Gil asked, ignoring Alice as usual.

"Yeah." Oz replied. "Alice got the hiccups though and we couldn't get rid of them."

"Mm." Gil mumbled, not really caring. Alice shot him a glare. "Did you try scaring her senseless?" The raven-haired man asked.

"Oh. I forgot about that one." Oz pondered to himself.

"Hah! Good luck –hic- with _that_." She mumbled, heading off into her room.

But then she heard footsteps behind her and was halfway turned around when Oz flung himself at her and embraced her tightly. Alice gasped loudly and froze, her heart thundering like mad and her cheeks red as cherries. "G-Get off! Stupid-!" she began but Oz cut her off.

"Shh! Don't move." He said. Alice silenced herself as she felt his arms pull her closer, knowing he could probably feel her heart pounding.

They both remained that way for a moment, the silence ticking on making Alice uneasy.

Finally, Oz pulled back and stared down at her satisfactorily.

"Ha. Looks like it worked." He grinned. Alice stared at him.

"What?"

"Your hiccups are gone." He informed her.

"H-Huh?" she waited a moment to find that the silence went unbroken by her squeaks. "B-But how-"

"I guess I used the right method to scare you." Oz chortled. "Sorry, but it worked!"

"S-Stupid man servant!" She shouted.

But Oz just laughed again. "Well they probably would have gone away by themselves soon anyway but-"

"WHAT?" Alice cut him off this time. "You mean they would have disappeared _without_ all that? Are you _serious_?" she bellowed. "You half drown me and give me a heart attack when they would have gone away anyway?" She was fuming, but Oz found it cute how worked up she was getting over it all.

"Well I thought you would have wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible." He explained.

"But you didn't have to do all those-" she huffed.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Just calm down." His words sounded dismissive, but his tone was genuine. "Well now we know what to do if this ever happens again, right?"

"Stupid." She snapped, looking away.

"Why don't you go get some rest now? You've had a long day." He smiled.

Alice glared up at him wordlessly before turning on her heel and storming off into her room.

Oz chuckled again and returned to the kitchen. "Well that went well." He reported.

"Wow, Oz." Gil shook his head in amazement. "You must feel really special in knowing you're the first Contractor ever to have a Chain who got the hiccups."

Oz smiled and looked toward Alice's room.

"Yeah." He agreed. "She's something else all right."

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**A/N: Hope you liked it! ^^**

**Please review!**


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